Pallet



May-'19; 1953 Filed April 9, 1948 w. w; cusHMA PALLET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I W Cuw mag v INV TOR.

JITTORNEY May 19, 1953 w. w; 'CUSHMAN Filed April 9, 1948 Avrvr INVENTOR.

1442/ on M (Ia/710709 RTTOKNEY Patented May 19, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

(Granted under The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to pallets and thelike such as are used in conjunction with fork-lift trucks in the transfer and storage of goods in warehouses, etc., and has for one of its primary objects to provide a knockdown pallet of relatively lightweight yet which is of sturdy and durable construction.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a pallet having a body portion provided with sets or series of integrally connected detachable legs extending throughout the length of the pallet.

A still further object of the invention consists in providing a knockdown pallet having a body portion and detachable legs in combination with a novel interlocking arrangement whereby the legs are securely held against inadvertent detachment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the novel construction of pallet;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the pallet;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of one corner thereof;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the lines 4-4 of Figure 1 and showing in dotted outline a portion of one of the legs about to be inserted in its retaining clip;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the underside of the pallet, and,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view illustrating one of the interlocks between a leg and one of its retaining clips.

The body portion of the pallet illustrated in the drawings is of the type disclosed in my application Serial No. 772,415, filed September 5, 1947, for Composite Pallet, and comprises upper and lower sheet metal plates l and 2 respectively, provided with overlapping marginal flanges 3 and 4. These plates are spaced apart by an interposed layer of honeycomb construction such as disclosed in the application just referred to. The plates l and 2 may be formed of aluminum or other preferred lightweight sheet metal and are retained in their operative relation by the overlapping flanges 3 and 4 which may be secured together by shrinking one upon the other, that is, by heating the plate I and then placing its flange Title 35, U. S. Code (1952),

see. 266) 2 3 over the flange 4 and allowing it to cool thereby drawing the flange 3 into tight frictional contact with the flange 4 of the lower sheet 2.

The spacing of the body portion of the present pallet or skid from the floor or the like is provided by a plurality of detachable legs. In the present illustration three sets of three integrally connected legs are disclosed and a description of one of them will suffice for all. Each group or series of three legs is indicated by the numeral 5 and may be formed of aluminum or other lightweight and resilient material. These members may be stamped up to provide three U-shaped leg members 8, I and 8 integrally connected at their bases by the webs 9 and I0 and these webs are preferably reinforced or stiffened by corrugations II which terminate just short of the base of the several legs. The upwardly extending branches or arms of the legs are normally flared outwardly slightly and these arms as well as the base of the legs are provided with corrugations 12 on the outer surface thereof. The upper ends of the leg branches or arms are provided with outwardly directed flanges 13 adapted to cooperate with securing clips fixed to the underside of the body portion of the pallet.

The securing clips for the legs are indicated by the numeral 14 and are permanently fixed to the underside of the pallet body by spot welding or other preferred connecting means. These clips, of course, are suitably spaced to correspond with the spacing of the U-shaped legs, and opposed clips are spaced apart a distance somewhat less than the distance between the outer edges of the flanges I3 of any particular leg. The reason for this particular spacing of opposed clips is to cause the legs to be tightly gripped by each pair of opposed clips and in this connection it is to be noted that the lower flange of each clip is provided with cut-out portions or notches l5 corresponding in shape to the shape of .the corrugations 12 on the arms of the U-shaped legs, thereby providing an interlocking action between the legs and the clips and preventing accidental detachment of the legs from the body portion of the pallet.

To attach the legs to the clips 14 of the body portion of the pallet it is only necessary that the flanges l3 on one side of a series of leg members be inserted into their clips [4 and the arms of the other series be pressed inwardly as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4 and the flanges [3 moved into alignment with the cooperating clips l4, after which the particular leg portions are released and the resiliency of the metal will force 3 the same into the opposed clips I 4 and set the respective corrugations 12 into the notches 15 of the particular clips l4, thus interlocking the leg group against longitudinal movement and firmly securing the members to the body portion of the pallet.

From the foregoing description and the attached drawing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I have devised a knockdown pallet of sturdy and durable construction and of relatively lightweight; that the legs may be readily attached and detached without the use of tools or special skills, thereby permitting the pallets to be shipped or stored in knockdown condition without any particular expense in the assembling or disassembling of the pallets; and that a novel and inexpensive construction is provided for securely interlocking the detachable legs to the body portion of the pallet.

I claim:

1. A knockdown pallet including a body portion, a pair of spaced clips secured to the underside of the body portion and arranged in opposed relationship, said clips provided with opposed cut-out portions, a detachable substantially U-shaped leg of resilient material, a flange on the upper end of each arm of the U-shaped leg for engaging a clip, and a protuberance on each arm of the leg for interlocking with the Wall of the cut-out portion.

2. A knockdown pallet including a body portion, a pair of spaced clips secured to the underside of the body portion and arranged in opposed relationship, said clips provided with opposed cut-out portions, a detachable substantially U- shapedleg of resilient material, a flange on the upper end of each arm of the U-shaped leg for engaging a clip, and one or more corrugations on each arm of the leg for interlocking with the walls of the cut-out portions.

3. A knockdown pallet comprising a planar body portion, pairs of spaced clips secured to the underside of the body portion in opposed relationship and provided with notches in their opposed edges, detachable U-shaped legs for said body portion each formed of resilient material, outwardly-directed flanges on the upper ends of said legs engaging said clips, and projections on said legs interlocking with notches.

4. A knockdown pallet comprising a planar body portion, a series of pairs of spaced clips secured to the underside of the body portion in opposed relationship and provided with notches, a detachable series of integrally-connected spaced U-shaped legs of resilient material, outweirdly-directed flanges on the upper ends of said legs engaging said clips, and projections on said legs interlocking with the notches.

5. A knockdown pallet comprising a planar body portion, a series of pairs of spaced clips secured to the underside of the body in opposed relationship and provided with notches, a series of integrally-connected, spaced, U-shaped legs of resilient material, outwardly-directed flanges on the upper ends of said legs engaging said clips, and a reinforcing rib on each leg interlocking with the notches.

\VALTON W. CUSHMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 893,703 Butler July 21, 1903 1,597,820 Proctor et al. Aug. 31, 1926 1,612,382 Lehman Dec. 28, 1926 1,832,759 Bennett Nov. 17, 1931 2,126,278 Quayle Aug. 9, 1938 2,371,106 Lewis et al Mar. 6, 1945 

